Temperature monitoring is used in many industries. For example, restaurants and food processing companies that rely on refrigeration equipment to keep their products fresh frequently use temperature monitoring. If a malfunction of the refrigeration equipment is not detected promptly, food could and gets either too hot or too cold, resulting in damage to the food products. For a business that relies on food, such damage could result in a large monetary loss and potentially a serious business disruption.
As another example, companies that operate servers or other computer equipment may also monitor temperature of their equipment. Sometimes, a malfunctioning component of the computer equipment will generate excessive heat. Thus, a temperature increase may indicate a defect that may need to corrected. Also, excessive heat generated by the equipment may cause components to fail because they are operating beyond their proper operating temperature.
Temperature monitoring systems are known. These systems incorporate temperature sensors attached to or mounted near equipment for which temperature is to be monitored. The system responds if the temperature sensor indicates a temperature outside of a normal operating range. One type of response that has been used is to raise an alarm at facility where the monitored equipment is located. Some systems use bells, flashing lights or other forms of audible or visible indications of an improper operating temperature.
SchecterTech, LLC, doing business as Temperature@lert, the assignee of this application for patent, has developed a system for monitoring computer equipment that does not require that someone be physically present in the facility where malfunctioning equipment is located in order to receive an alarm. The Temperature@lert system uses remote units that combine a temperature sensor and a USB network interface. The remote unit can be readily attached to a computer device for which temperature is to be monitored. A small software agent installed on the computer can receive temperature readings over the USB interface and, if the sensor indicates a temperature out of range, can connect to an SMTP server to send an e-mail alerting a designated party to an improper operating temperature.